Late NY real estate mogul’s daughter fights for her inheritance from father who she says disinherited her after she saw him in a secret gay tryst

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Diana Downing, 54, said her relationship with her ‘closeted homosexual’ father, Vincent Downing, was irretrievably damaged after she walked in on him with his ‘male lover’

She was cut out of the $80 million estate at the time her father died aged 86, in May 2016

She’s launched legal fights on both sides of the Atlantic, praying U.S. and French courts to wrestle ‘her share’ of the estate from her two siblings

Vincent was killed, aged 86, on May 10, 2016, when an elderly driver crushed him while he was walking across a pedestrian crossing in Manhattan

Her siblings deny her claims and say that she was disinherited because their father was disappointed in her

They pointed out that Diana had been disbarred as a lawyer in 2010 after pleading guilty to a Medicaid fraud scheme – that she also rebuffed his efforts at reconciliation

Diana Downing, daughter of late New York real estate millionaire, Vincent Downing claims she was cut out of her father’s will after she caught him in secret gay tryst

The daughter of a New York real estate tycoon claims she was cut out of his will after she caught him during an intimate moment with a secret gay lover.
Diana Downing said her relationship with her ‘closeted homosexual’ father, , was irretrievably damaged after she walked in on him with his ‘male lover’, according to an affidavit filed in a Manhattan court.
86-year-old Manhattan landlord, Vincent Downing, died in 2016 after an elderly driver put his car in reverse instead of drive and crushed him against a truck on a street in the city’s Upper East Side.
Now Downing’s 54-year-old daughter is in a contentious estate battle with her two siblings to collect what she believes is her share of the $80 million inheritance from their father
‘I believe that my father was so embarrassed that he shunned me,’ she wrote, adding that he skipped her high school graduation and her Yale University commencement, the estranged daughter told a New York newspaper.
The father and daughter were never able to reconcile their differences before Vincent was killed on May 10, 2016, by the elderly driver, crossing a pedestrian crosswalk in Manhattan.

Diana Downing, now in a fight with her two siblings for a share of her father’s estate, believes she was disinherited by her father after she caught him in a secret gay relationship

Diana Downing claims she was cut out of her father’s will after she caught him in a secret gay tryst which has pitched her in a legal battle with her two siblings for a share of her father’s estate. His collection of Manhattan apartment buildings reportedly, bring in a combine $3 million in rent every 18 months.
She believes that if he hadn’t died expectantly, they would have reconciled.
‘I was cautiously hopeful that my father would overcome the embarrassment that I believe prompted him to shun me in my teen years, and which I suspect haunted him,’ she wrote.
‘I believe that, shortly before he died, my father was preparing to reconnect with me.

NYPD officers examine the scene where an elderly driver allegedly put his car in reverse instead of drive and crushed Vincent Downing

In her petition to Manhattan Surrogate’s Court to halt the distribution of the assets in his will, Diana argued that her father, who had a townhouse on the Upper East Side, had spent to past 20 years living in Paris. She claims to have evidence showing he had most of his medical procedures in France and family had visited him there.
Diana has also filed a similar lawsuit in France, to demand her share of the inheritance. Under French law, all children, even if cut out of the will, are entitled to a share of their parents’ assets.
However Diana’s brother, David Downing responding through his attorneys, claims Diana is lying about walking in on their father in an attempt to share in his estate.

Vincent Downing died after he was pinned in between a car and a parked truck on May 10, 2016

The estate is estimated to be worth more than $80 million and Vincent Downing’s collection of Manhattan apartment buildings reportedly, brings in a combined $3 million in rent every 18 months

David’s’ attorney said Diana’s allegations about walking in on her dad as a teen ”totally fabricated” with “no basis in fact,” offering instead that Vincent had actually disinherited her because he was disappointed in how her life had turned out. They highlighted a 2010 felony charge which saw Diana disbarred as an attorney after pleading guilty to a Medicaid fraud scheme.
They say she also turned down his attempts at reconciliation.
Diana’s siblings also point out that their father had filed taxes in the US, mostly living in Manhattan, so couldn’t be a resident of France.